Make abortion clinic 'bubble zones' larger, advocates tell Ontario's AG

July 31, 2017

Honourable Yasir Naqvi, Attorney-General

Ministry of the Attorney General

11th Floor, 720 Bay Street

Toronto, ON, M7A 2S9

ynaqvi.mpp@liberal.ola.org

Dear Minister Naqvi,

Thank you for your promise to introduce safe access zone legislation in the fall to protect Ontario facilities that provide abortion and their clients. We the undersigned agree that this is a much-needed initiative, given the ongoing threat of harassment, intimidation, and abuse that occurs at medical facilities across Ontario. Access zone legislation must be enacted throughout the province of Ontario in order to protect the fundamental rights and safety of Ontario patients, health care providers, and administration staff.

British Columbia has had the Access to Abortion Services Act since 1995. It has withstood several court challenges, the most recent being an appeal which was denied by the Supreme Court in 2007. It has been shown to infringe only minimally upon protesters' freedom of speech in order to protect the right to necessary healthcare, as well as the privacy, safety, and dignity of patients and providers. The BC law would be an excellent basis for the Act to be implemented throughout Ontario. Your Bill, however, should consider recent pharmaceutical and policy advancements, which will expand the use of medical abortions outside of dedicated clinics, and enact legislation accordingly.

We suggest the following terms as laid out below:

• Ontario should introduce legislation that establishes a default 150m access zone for all facilities that provide abortion. (The Toronto Morgentaler Clinic is protected by a 150m zone, therefore providing precedent.)
• Facilities should be protected without having to apply for a custom-measured zone.
• Zones should protect abortion clinics, hospitals that provide abortions, the offices of health care providers who provide or prescribe abortion, pharmacies that dispense abortion medication, and the residences of health care providers who provide or prescribe abortions. (Besides physicians, other authorized health care providers may include, for example, nurse-practitioners and midwives).
• Providers should have the ability to apply for an exemption from the law or a custom-tailored zone if needed. (Some facilities may not need protection or may need a larger or smaller zone.)
• To reinforce the importance of these zones and compensate for inflation over time, we suggest that the legislation should double the fines initially laid out in British Columbia's Access to Abortion Services Act.

Establishing fixed zones and eliminating the requirement for facilities to apply for a zone can be justified as follows. Many more health care providers will need protection due to dispensing Mifegymiso. As you know, Ontario has recently committed to cost coverage for Mifegymiso, and the expectation is that health care providers across the province will start prescribing abortion medication to their patients, now or in the future. The task and cost of applying for an access zone will become onerous to providers such as family physicians and may act as a barrier to abortion access, undermining the intent of Ontario's cost-coverage policy.

As well, Ontario has many more facilities providing abortion than BC. Requiring custom-measured zones would be onerous and costly, both for the province and facilities. Our concern is that an obligation to apply for an access zone will leave many facilities unprotected. In BC, for example, only three clinics are protected because of the requirement to apply for a zone.

The proven 22-year success and constitutionality of the BC law means that the evident need for safe access zone legislation does not require major scrutiny we know it helps to ensure safety, privacy, dignity, and the right to access necessary health services.

Safe access to abortion is a fundamental and constitutionally-protected right for all Canadians. While people are free to demonstrate their opposition to this right, their protests should take place a safe distance from where patients are seeking healthcare. Given recent events throughout Ontario, including the mistaken erasure of the 1994 injunction protecting a few Toronto-area clinics and Ontario hospitals, it is crucial that a meaningful and comprehensive Act be passed quickly. Abortion patients and providers need protection from the harms and abuses that often arise due to the presence of protesters. These harms can include intimidation, shaming, invasion of privacy, physical interference, and emotional distress that increases the risk of medical complications during the abortion procedure.

Thank you for your commitment to legislation that will uphold the human rights, safety, and equality of all people in Ontario.

Sincerely,

Joyce Arthur, Abortion Rights Coalition of Canada (national)

Darrah Teitel, Action Canada for Sexual Health and Rights (national)

Sydney Holmes, Defend Choice, Ottawa

Kim Harris, Ontario Coalition for Abortion Clinics, Toronto

Catherine Macnab, Planned Parenthood Ottawa

Racquel Bremmer, Planned Parenthood Toronto

Casey Remy Summers, Reproductive Justice Committee, Peterborough